Bird table project

[chief barker]

Mark fancy building me a nice dovecote?

 

[boxman2000]

Nice work, wish I had the time and tools to do things like that!

 

[darreny]

Very nice job. I did a log cabin type one in oak for the girlfriends dad last year from my offcuts. Should have drawn it first as it came out like a mansion, could house 40 birds lol

 

[Cordyline]

Looking on a search engine for a bird table idea I came across this thread

Made this

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/cogla/birdtable029_zps6b5b6121.jpg?t=1411813589

 

[Mark A]

Looks great! I like how you have continued the molding on the roof corner covers around to the front edge. Glad someone found it useful .

 

[Cordyline]

Mark I joined the forum to show you
Not up to your high standard

When I first read your thread I didn't know what a router is

 

[Cordyline]

Mark how do you hold the small pieces of wood in order to route them ?
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/ashworth614/Wood projects/DSC_6402_zps36726fc3.jpg

 

[AHarvey]

with that part I imagine it was made in 2 parts, top and bottom. You would build the shape then route it once built, then glue them together. You'd mount the router still and move the wood around the bit using slides.

Just guessing but I think that is the way I would do it.

 

[Mark A]

I have a cheap router table which makes it a lot easier. I screw a piece of scrap plywood to the fence and then move the fence with ply toward the cutter so that the cutter goes through the ply. This means there is a continuous fence for the workpiece to be pressed against and reduces the chance of the part getting stuck between the cutter and fence and then being flung back. I'll also take a few passes, so that a small amount of material is being removed at a time.


If I was to do it without a router table i'd screw the work piece down and add some same thickness material around the work piece to support the router base and stop it tilting and use a cutter with a ball bearing to follow the shape.

The very small chamfered piece at the top would probably be best done by hand with a sharp block plane, or with a file/ some rough sandpaper and a block of wood.

The part in the middle is what you want to shape. Screwed down to stop it moving. Then a piece of scrap wood of the same thickness placed around the workpiece (also screwed down) with a hole cut out to allow for the workpiece, plus enough space to allow a channel for the ball bearing of the router cutter.

 

[Cordyline]

This one has a slate base

Now I'm looking for a Scroll-saw - Hegner for preference

 

[Mark A]

My sister moved into a new house so i am making her a bird table as a moving in present. Decided to try an easier way of constructing it as the last one took way too long with all the dowel joints. Managed to knock this up in a day so far, so a lot quicker to build.

Quite pleased with this one, I think the proportions are better than the last one i made. She is coming to visit in a couple of weeks, so I'll leave it bare wood and let her pick out a colour as I think she wanted it painted rather than stained.

Now I'm looking for a Scroll-saw - Hegner for preference

A proper scroll saw then! Mine is just a cheapo £45 Parkside from ebay. It does the job but theres a lot of vibration and the base doesnt seem very stable. I guess you get what you pay for.

Liking the new bird table. Slate base is a good idea as the plywood is always the first thing to rot.

 

[Cosimo]

This might be the beginning of a custom bird table business!

 

[Mark A]

This might be the beginning of a custom bird table business!

I don't mind making a few every now and then for friends and family but think i'd get pretty sick of making them all the time.

I think my next project will be a wheel barrow planter, but need to get some scrap wood.

Finished until my sister comes to visit and picks out some paint. Hope she doesn't go for some horrible colour like pink . Think green or cream could look ok.

Went for a cartoon nuclear missile for the spire on top